Free A Village Dilemna (Turnham Malpas 09) by Rebecca Shaw

never thought about that.’
    ‘How long have they got here, then?’
‘Ah! Two hours and they’ve to eat lunch, go in the Store for souvenirs, look around the church, listen to you.’
    ‘Heck! They’ll have it all to do at a run.’
    ‘Leave it to me. I might squeeze in another half-hour. I’ll look into that. But I take it I have your co-operation, then? You’d like to do it?’
    ‘I think so. Twice this summer you say?’
    Bryn nodded. ‘That’s right, more next year when I really get the ball rolling. It’s going to be a money spinner I can tell you. This village is amazing, you know. No road signs, no street lights, no house numbers, a real genuine backwater it is. They’ll love it. We live here and don’t value it enough. It’s normal to us, you see. To people who live in New York it’s a piece of living history.’
    ‘ It is .’
    ‘I know, we need to remind ourselves, though, just how left behind we are. Wonderful.’ Bryn went to stand at Jimmy’s front door. ‘I mean, just look at it. Where in the world would you see houses still looking like they did the day they were built? Not a single house out of character. The only eyesore is the bus stop outside the Store. There’s nothing else to spoil it, is there?’
    ‘That’s right, if yer don’t look at Neville Neal’s house. Or at Sir Ralph’s Hipkin Gardens.’
    ‘I know, but even those have been sensitively designed.’
    ‘I’ll give you that. Right, I’m off.’ Wryly Jimmy added, ‘I’ve no doubt you’ll be back.’
    Bryn found himself being turned out, but he didn’t mind. He’d won his case, so another piece of his jigsaw was falling into place. He paused for a moment, watching Jimmy and Sykes wandering off down Stocks Row towards the spare land. No need for a lead for Sykes, just the right kind of freedom for a dog, but only this village could provide it. Imagine that, no zebra crossings, no one-way signs, nothing to mar the beauty of it. Bryn closed his eyes and felt himself to be back centuries, then the peace was disturbed by the sound of a car. When he opened his eyes he saw it was Sylvia Biggs, driving past the Royal Oak and on to heaven knew where. He glanced at his watch, half past nine, Georgie wouldn’t be downstairs yet, give her another half-hour and she’d be having her morning coffee and he’d join her, with a bit of luck, and they could discuss their plans in more detail. Frankly, at the moment he found her presence enjoyable in a way he’d never found Elektra’s. What a fool he’d been not to have seen the signs earlier and done something about winning Georgie back before it was all too late. Well, in his book it was never too late.
He found himself outside the Store where Jimbo was standing gazing at his new window display. ‘Good morning, Jimbo.’
    ‘Oh, right, good morning. What do you think then? Give me your opinion.’
    ‘Absolutely excellent. If that doesn’t empty your freezers of ready meals I don’t know what will.’
    Jimbo stepped further back and looked up to assess the impact the headquarters of his empire was making.
    Bryn, in order to ingratiate himself, said, ‘It’s so good, I’m surprised you don’t open another one in a similar situation.’
    ‘With mail order and catering and this, I’ve enough on my plate. Another outlet would spread me too thinly and I’d spend too much time running back and forth, till in the end I’d finish up doing nothing well. No, we do better with just this. I’ve a couple of sample souvenirs to show you.’ He strode off into the Store without bothering to see if Bryn was following, but he was right behind him, glad Jimbo was so enthusiastic.
When he emerged again into the front of the Store he found Georgie paying for some groceries. Bel had them packed into two bulging bags. Bryn said, ‘Allow me. I was just coming across to see you.’
    ‘Only to talk business.’
    ‘Yes, and a coffee. I know there’ll be one going about now. You see, I